My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 5 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Typically, the afterword is supposed to include supplementary reading material, just like how strategy guides for games and paperback books have a space to break things down, but it was a little too difficult to do that this time. To be honest, I wish I had one. This is all the doing of a certain troublemaker, Isana Higashira.

In the second volume, I was given the suggestion to insert some of Isana’s monologues every now and then, but I ultimately rejected it because I wanted to keep her character mysterious, someone who was simultaneously filled with mystery and ideals. Once the box is open, it can never be closed. Similarly, once more is known about her, she can never go back to being mysterious.

Just as a simple accident or emotional trick can make for a very enticing locked-room murder, there’s a similar charm to the unknown. We wanted the readers to be in the same mindset as Mizuto, with a sense of knowing what exactly is going on while being completely wrong. In the end, I was in the same boat. I didn’t know either.

I’ve said this many times before, but I don’t have a clear idea how this story will progress. I don’t know the characters’ thoughts or motivations behind their actions until I actually begin writing. That’s precisely what happened with Isana in this volume. When I finished my first draft, I received a comment saying that something wasn’t quite right.

Those of you who read the original probably know that Isana’s nightmare used to be the climax. As I was trying to make the early deadline for the special edition, I told my editor exactly how many pages I’d written.

That was when Isana told me something wasn’t quite right. But what? I had no clue. All I knew was something was wrong. Would it have killed her to be more specific if she wanted something changed? Did she even know how down to the wire this was? I only had three days left until the deadline. I began racking my brains until I felt sick about what could possibly have been wrong, and ultimately, I got a break. Mizuto saving her like some kind of superhero was a misinterpretation of his character. Otakus really just don’t get it, do they?

I’d like to extend a big thanks to the illustrator, TakayaKi, Rei Kusakabe—who is in charge of the manga—my editor at Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko, the cast members of the drama CD, and everyone who has supported this series. But I’d also like to say a special “screw you” to the pandemic.

So anyway, this has been Volume 5 of My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex: The Only You in The World by Kyosuke Kamishiro. Why is Yume-san so intent on playing the role of the heroine who loses out?